Cherry Blossoms
by autobotsidekick
Summary: Tonight was going so far back into the recesses of his mind that not even Master Splinter would be able to find it.
1. 1: baby blue and stormy green

A/N: TURTLES MOVIE COMES OUT TODAY AND I'M PUMPED. What better way to celebrate turtles than to post turtle fanfic? Here's an updated version of a story I started in 2012 and am now finishing! Woohoo!

This is set in season 1 of the 2003 show, (usually) in between episodes.

* * *

Sakura sat in silence with the rest of her Foot unit as they watched these so-called turtle creatures run across the nearby rooftops. She had encountered them just a week ago and they had been fearsome opponents indeed. They stopped suddenly and as the blue and red-banded turtles seemed to be discussing something the orange-banded one said something that suddenly had the purple-banded one laughing. The young kunoichi cocked her head to the side curiously. There was something about them…

Out of the corner of Sakura's eye she saw her squad leader, Amane, raise her hand and wave it forward to attack. There wasn't much to this mission other than find the turtles and battle them to assess their skill level so that Amane could report back to the Shredder.

In seconds chaos was unleashed as the Foot descended upon the turtles. As usual they fought back just as fierce as the Foot, but it wasn't long before Sakura was standing over the orange-banded turtle. She raised her kusarigama and suddenly froze. Time seemed to stop as her eyes met bright blue eyes staring back at her in confusion and slight fear. Sakura found that she couldn't bring the final blow down as she had been trained all her life. His eyes spoke volumes of the innocence he possessed. He was a child, much like she was, thrown into something that seemed to be bigger than both of them.

In her moment of hesitation, Sakura was roughly kicked to the side her weapon flying from her fingertips. Her head smashed into the wall with a violent crack and she fell to the ground dazed. As she leaned up on her elbows her hood fell back and stormy green eyes met the dangerous golden eyes behind the red mask.

"Don't touch my brotha." He warned.

Sakura looked from him to the orange-banded turtle still sitting on his shell looking at her with shocked curiosity in his blue eyes.

Red walked back over to his brother, "C'mon." He said helping him to his feet before they were gone in the shadows with the others.

The rooftop was quiet for a moment, with the stillness that came after battle. Sakura gave a heavy sigh as her head began to pound violently, there was no doubt she had a concussion, she could feel the blood running down the side of her face.

"SAKURA!"

The girl's eyes widened at the yell, she'd almost forgot about Amane. The Elite Kunoichi had watched the entire battle. She'd seen her hesitation, and now Sakura was going to pay.

Amane was stalking towards the girl, her kusarigama in her hand. Sakura got to her feet as quickly as her concussed brain would allow and tried to dart off in the other direction. She didn't get far when the weighted end of the chain hit the small of her back sending Sakura straight into the ground.

"Leave us," Sakura heard Amane command as she lay on the ground trying to regain her breath.

Once the Foot were all gone, Amane walked forward and grabbed Sakura's braid and yanked her into an upright position close to her face. "Now tell me, child, why did you hesitate?"

"I do not think you would appreciate the answer," Sakura spat.

Amane let go of the braid pushing the girl back down to the ground. She pulled her mask down and gave a smirk. "I think it's time you had another lesson in hesitation. Prepare to spar."

Sakura stood up shakily but defiantly, pulling down her own mask and flicking her bangs out of the way. Before she was ready Amane was already swinging her leg towards her, catching her in the side where Red had kicked her earlier, knocking the wind out of the girl. Despite the pain she held on to Amane's leg tightly trying to make her lose balance. However, Sakura underestimated the master Elite who then flipped around and brought her other leg to connect with the girl's face. Sakura let go and stumbled back as Amane landed. Rubbing her bruised face, Sakura spat out blood and went on the offensive.

Amane dodged the first attack to her face but was momentarily caught off guard by an amateur punch to the stomach. As she doubled over Sakura turned to run again, but was once again hit with the weighted kusarigama chain that sent her tumbling to the ground stunned and unable to move.

Amane approached the girl throwing the kusarigama to the side carelessly. Grabbing Sakura's braid she again yanked the girl close to her face forcing her to look at her stormy green eyes to cold, unfeeling green eyes.

"Now, dearest daughter, why did you hesitate?"

Unable to do much else Sakura stopped fighting and slumped in exhaustion.

* * *

"Hey guys, I think I left something at April's! I'll catch up with you at home." Michelangelo called to his brothers, as they were getting climbing down the manhole close to their lair.

Leonardo looked hesitant to let Mikey go by himself after the recent battle with the ninjas they had been running into recently. "I don't know, Mikey…"

"C'mon, Leo, I'll be fiiine. April doesn't live that far away." Mikey pleaded.

After a moment of consideration Leo relented, though, still reluctantly. "Well, okay, Mikey, just be careful and hurry back."

"You got it, bro!" Mikey replied cheerfully as Leo slid the cover back into place.

As soon as Mikey was sure his brothers were gone he retraced his steps back to their most recent battle. He wasn't sure why he was doing this or what he was even hoping to find… but there was something about that kunoichi and just the whole fight that struck him oddly. There was something wrong about the whole thing- granted- ninjas coming out of nowhere to attack them on a perfectly good night was just wrong, but this was a different kind of… wrong.

Mikey stopped his thoughts as he arrived at the most recent battleground, just a normal rooftop on the edge of a shopping district. However, something again was off, the ninjas were still there. That was odd, they normally left right away. Mikey stuck to the shadows to watch and realized that maybe he was wrong.

There were only two of the ninjas still present. A woman and a girl, kunoichis, masks off and fighting each other. Mikey winced as he watched the woman deliver a powerful kick to the girl's face that sent her stumbling backwards. He continued to watch them and wondered why they were fighting in the first place. In his mind Mikey heard Raphael's voice _"Dis is great! We'll just let 'em kill each ohta off!"_

The girl landed a good punch to the woman's gut and as she doubled over the girl turned and began to run towards Mikey's hiding place. She didn't seem to see him though as her eyes were dazed. Mikey's own eyes widened as he realized it was the kunoichi that had cornered him earlier that night. Mikey nearly reached out to the girl as he saw the woman behind her straighten back up and pull out a kusarigama, which she skillfully began to maneuver. The poor girl was never going to make it.

Mikey winced as he heard the kusarigama weight nail the girl in the back. She stumbled for a second before she went tumbling straight into the ground, curling up on herself in pain. Looking from the girl to the woman Mikey was sickened by the smile he saw as the woman threw the kusarigama to the side and walked towards the girl. She grabbed the girl's braid and lifted her head close to her face, the girl struggled weakly against her.

"Now, dearest daughter, why did you hesitate?"

 _What?!_ Mikey's mind screamed. _Daughter? What kind of parent would do this to their kid?_

The girl seemed to slump tiredly.

Mikey watched horrified as "mother dearest" tossed the girl to the side.

"Why did you hesitate _again_?!" She questioned venomously. "This is the second time you've had a perfect shot at one of the turtle creatures. You could have easily been rid of him! Along with the purple-banded one last week, and yet you _hesitated._ You've cost us the chance to get rid of two of the creatures! WHY?"

The girl was silent.

The woman stared down at the girl with a stone cold gaze. "Why do you continually disobey me? Your own _mother?_ "

Suddenly the girl looked up at her with her own venomous gaze. "You have _never_ been my mother."

The rooftop was silent.

"Report in to Masao, Monday night at nine. I am through with you for now." 'Mother' turned and walked away suddenly gone in an instant.

The rooftop stayed silent as Mikey turned back to look at the girl still slumped over on the roof. He felt a pang of sadness as he watched a single tear leak out of her eye.

"What did I ever do to deserve this?" Mikey nearly jumped out of his shell as he realized the girl was talking to herself.

"I dunno, Dudette, did you do something bad in a past life?" It had come tumbling out of his mouth before he realized he was thinking out loud. Mikey slapped a hand over his mouth. _Craaaaaap. Leo and Raph would surely kill him if they ever found out he'd blown his cover like that._

The girl shot up and in seconds was in a defensive position. "Who is there?!" She swayed for a moment before she gasped and fell to her knees holding onto her side.

"Whoa! Are you okay there?" Mikey asked before he could stop himself. What was he doing!? Talking to the enemy like this? Mikey didn't need his brothers to tell him he was an insane shell-fer-brains. Yet at the same time there was something different about this girl, and after all she hadn't killed him or Donnie so that was good right?

Mikey jumped down from his perch and in doing so stepped away from the shadows. As he did so the girl's eyes widened and she nearly screamed. She did, however, scramble backwards as fast as she could.

"No, wait! I swear I never wanted to fight you! I am forced to do it!" She was panicking, her eyes wide in pain and fear. Her eyes closed and she held her hand up in a weak attempt at defense.

"You're forced to fight?" Mikey questioned staying where he was as to not scare her further. After a few moments the girl opened her eyes again and stared at him. Slowly in attempt to achieve equal footing she braced herself on the wall behind her to stand up.

"Are you okay?" Mikey asked as she slowly stood up. His concern really was genuine.

The girl stared back at him as if she was studying him for a moment before she answered. "I… I think… No. No I am not." She sighed. "What do you care, we are enemies are we not?"

"Well I donno." Mikey shrugged, "You seem different than the others."

The girl let out a bitter laugh, "Yes, I guess I could be considered different."

For lack of anything else to say Mikey went for the obvious question at hand. "So why did you hesitate? I mean, why not kill me or my brother?"

The girl gave him another inquisitive look. "Why? Because I did not want to, it… it was not right. It is not right. When I looked at you I realized that you were no monster, or… creature. As I watched you with your…brothers… I realized that, you are just like me. Just a child, forced into something we cannot comprehend." The girl slumped back down to the ground leaning against the wall for support.

 _Just a child, forced into something we can't comprehend._

"How old are you?" Mikey asked sitting down next to the girl but not letting his guard down completely. What was he _doing?_ Leo and Raph would definitely kill him if they found out about this.

"Fifteen," the girl mumbled. Her eyes had slipped shut and noticing all the congealed blood on her forehead it would be a very bad thing for her to fall asleep.

"I'm Michelangelo, by the way." Mikey said in an attempt to keep her awake.

"Sakura." She replied quietly.

"That's pretty, it means 'cherry blossom' doesn't?" Mikey asked.

"Mhmm."

"So, Sakura, how are you going to get home?" Mikey asked awkwardly.

"Mmmm. I do not live to far from here, I can make it."

"I hate to break it to you, Kura." Oh great, now he was already using a nickname. "But you can barely stand let alone make it home."

She was quiet, knowing he was right.

"Want to-. I mean, I guess… You know I could take you home." What in the _shell_ was he thinking? He just offered an enemy kunoichi a piggyback ride home! Yeup, tonight was going so far back into the recesses of his mind that not even _Master Splinter_ would be able to find it.

Sakura was quiet for a moment. "I-. Very well." Mikey could hear the suspicion in her voice.

"I promise that I will take you straight home, no funny business. Turtle's honor." Mikey said. He put on his most charming smile and looked down at the girl. "Can you trust me, Sakura?" He asked reaching out his hand.

After another moment of being stared at (she seemed to do that a lot). She finally answered.

"I can."

To be honest, Mikey was surprised with her quick answer. He would have thought that she would have been harder to convince. She reached her hand up and he grasped it and pulled her into his arms with ease. Though he wasn't much taller or bigger than her, she was still small and easy to hold. She let out a small hiss as the pain tugged at her side.

"You okay, dudette?" Mikey asked.

"Yes," she breathed out harshly.

"Okay then, which way?" Mikey asked ready to go.

"Wait! My kusarigama! I need it." Sakura pleaded.

Mikey was a little iffy about rearming someone who was still officially an enemy.

"I will let you hold it! Please, it belonged to my grandfather and it is the only thing I have left of him."

Mikey seemed to think about it for only a second before he agreed. "Okay."

Sakura sighed in relief as Mikey walked over to where her favored weapon lay. He set her down gently before picking up the weapon, wrapping up the chain, and sticking it in his belt.

"Oh my brothers would definitely kill me if they saw this." Mikey said, picking Sakura up.

"You and me both, Michelangelo." Sakura said.

"Okay, dudette, which way?" He asked.

"North four blocks and then west about two." She answered.

Mikey grinned down at her. "I'd hold on if I were you."

Sakura took his advice to heart as she wrapped her arms around his neck right before he took off running. It was odd feeling. The air whipped past her face quickly as Mikey leapt from rooftop to rooftop. This was something she'd done countless times, but never did she have to trust someone to do it for her.

Especially someone she barely knew and was suppose to be her enemy. Yet, who wasn't her enemy at this point?

"This one?" Mikey asked as they reached their destination.

Sakura nodded and Mikey set her down on her feet helping her keep her balance. Once he was sure she was steady he let go.

They stood there awkwardly unsure of what to say.

Mikey held out the kusarigama, "Here you go."

"Thank you." Sakura replied, drawing the weapon close to her chest and decidedly looking everywhere but Michelangelo.

"Yeah, no problem." He started to turn, "Uh, I should probably go."

"Uh, yes, me too." Sakura said, turning her own way.

"Oh! Sakura, also, you know… Thanks for not killing me. Or my brother for that matter."

"…You are welcome." She replied finally looking back at him.

"Well, see you around." Mikey said with a quick smile, before he turned fully and disappeared into the night.

"Yes, see you around," Sakura said quietly.

As they went their separate ways, Michelangelo and Sakura had the same thought. Maybe, if the circumstances had been different… maybe they could have been friends.

* * *

 _shanks friends! leave me a review? :)_


	2. 2: orange

Hey y'all! I just want to let you guys know who are reading this story and my Transformers one, that I am in the middle of my summer semester of school right now, and that's why updates are slow going. I'm hoping they'll pick up speed when I have more time to write and edit in a month or two when I'm on break for a few months :)

I wrote this chapter several times over and it fought me every time. So I basically threw my arms in the air and went "SCREW IT." so here we are. I already like the next chapter way better than this one, so stick with me!

y'all are fab.

* * *

Sakura slowly made her way down the hallway of her floor with her hood pulled up around her face in case anyone walked by. She didn't need someone to see all the blood. Her vision was starting to blur as she leaned against her front door heavily, breathing hard as she reached for the handle. It was unlocked of course. Her older brother, Benjirou, always kept it unlocked when she was gone no matter how many times she told him to lock the door. She was kind of glad he didn't listen to her this time.

As the door opened she couldn't hold herself up anymore and collapsed to the ground just inside of the apartment.

"Sakura, is that you?" She heard her brother's voice from the kitchen along with a scraping chair as he stood up to come investigate. "Sakura!"

Sakura looked up as she felt her brother kneel down by her side. He moved her legs over so he could close the door and pulled her hood down. Ben's own green eyes widened at all the blood congealed on the side of her head and most of her face. "Holy shit! Sakura, stay awake."

Sakura let out a small dazed laugh. "You are like that mother hen that grandfather used to have."

"Well someone has to take care of you, seeing as you won't do it yourself." Ben replied as he picked her up and carried her to the couch. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"I think my ribs might be bruised." Sakura said as her brother set her down on the cushions. "My back hurts quite a bit too." She started to see stars on the ceiling. She closed her eyes to make them go away.

"Sakura, so help me if you fall asleep-." Ben warned as he ran to go get his first aid kit.

The last thing she remembered before she blacked out was her brother calling her name.

* * *

After letting his brothers know he was home, safe and sound, Mikey went straight to his room and flopped down on the bed. Normally after a patrol he would hang out with one of his brothers, or read comics, or draw, or watch movies- but not tonight.

He couldn't stop thinking about that kunoichi. Sakura was way different than what he would have imagined those weird ninjas being.

 _"I swear I never wanted to fight you! I am forced to do it!"_

Sakura's frightened words echoed in his mind. "Forced to do it?" he murmured quietly to himself. Sure she could have been saying that just to save herself, unsure of what he would do, but her next words about it not being right changed Mikey's mind of her intentions.

She was 15, just like he was… and apparently with whoever these ninja guys are, it seemed that both he and Sakura were in over their heads. Mikey felt sick to his stomach as he thought about how injured Sakura had been when he dropped her off at her apartment. He hoped she was okay…

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes to a dark living room and her head cushioned in her brother's lap. She glanced up to see he was watching the TV, but not really, the volume was almost all the way down.

With the slight movement of his sister, Ben looked down to see her dazed green eyes staring up at him tiredly. "Hello there, sleepy head."

Sakura groaned. "What time is it?"

"About five in the morning. You really haven't been out that long. You stumbled in at about two."

"Oh."

"Yeah, uh, don't do that whole collapsing to the ground thing anymore. You scared the absolute shit out of me." Ben said with a slight tremor in voice that only Sakura would be able to pick up on.

"Yes, sorry about that." Sakura replied, attempting to sit up. Her mind felt fuzzy and she could feel bandages wrapped tightly around her head. Her long curly hair had been brushed out of its braid and pulled into a low ponytail to keep the bandages from sliding out of place.

Ben helped her sit up and settled her back down against he back of the couch. "Rough night?"

"I would rather not talk about it."

Her older brother sighed and leaned his elbows on his knees. "It was Amane, again, wasn't it?" She didn't deserve the title of 'mother' especially not with them.

Sakura was silent and that was all Ben needed to know.

"She hurts you more than your actual work for the Clan or the Dragons does." Ben said angrily. "She's going to kill you one of these days."

"Maybe, but is that not what was going to end up happening the entire time?" Sakura questioned pointedly. "It is not like we have much of a choice."

Ben huffed angrily again. "I don't have to like it."

Sakura coughed out a bitter laugh. "Who would like it? We got the awful end of a terrible deal. There is not anything we can do."

"We could run away, somewhere they would never find us." Ben said. "Go somewhere they wouldn't expect us to go… like the Midwest, or Iceland."

Sakura sighed and turned her head to smile sadly at her brother. "You remember what happened last time. They would not let us off so easy this time."

Ben huffed angrily.

"Besides someone has to take care of Tommy." Sakura said, her sad smile turning into a small teasing grin. "Where is our dear, Thomas, anyway?" She asked looking around for their long time best friend and roommate.

"He got home at about three and went straight to bed. He had a long night too." Ben said with a sigh. He turned off the TV and held out his hand. "Come on we should probably get you to bed. You're gonna be sleeping all day."

Sakura let her brother lead her back to her room and tuck her into bed, already falling asleep as he pulled the blankets up.

"I do not tell you enough, Benji, but you are the best." Sakura mumbled, as her brother smoothed out the blanket around her.

"You don't have to say it," Ben teased. "I know I'm the best." With a small kiss to the top of her bandaged head Ben turned out the light and walked out. "I hope you know that you're the best too." He whispered before he closed the door.

Sakura had dreams about flying turtles wearing orange capes that night.

* * *

It was later in the evening when Sakura woke up again. Ben greeted her in the kitchen and gave her some tea before she went up to the rooftop by herself to think.

What on earth had Michelangelo been thinking when he offered to take Sakura home? What had he been thinking coming back and then just talking with her to begin with? She hadn't known these turtles very long but apparently their orange-banded brother was insane. However, she was insane too, trusting Michelangelo as easily as she had, so they had that in common.

As the sun began to set, Sakura sighed. Maybe, if Michelangelo had been born human, and their circumstances different, maybe they could have been friends. Sakura took a sip of her tea as she heard a quiet padding of feet coming up behind her but as she spun around to defend from any attack her arm was caught by a green three-fingered hand.

"Hey there!" Michelangelo said with a big grin as he let go of her arm. "You don't have to hit me you know."

Sakura just stared back at him with wide eyes. "Oh no, no, no this is not happening. You should not be _here_!"

Michelangelo leaned against the overlook and gave Sakura a serious look that seemed odd after the big smile that had been on his face seconds before. "I won't tell, if you don't tell. Look, I don't know. I just can't stop thinking about last night, and you don't seem like those other ninjas, and this is probably stupid, but I wanted to see if you were okay."

"What?" Sakura just gaped at him.

"I couldn't stop thinking about you. I wanted to see if you were okay." Michelangelo said earnestly. "That was quite the beating you took yesterday."

"I… I do not know what to say." Sakura stammered leaning back against the overlook next to him. "The only people that care about me are my brothers."

"I have brothers too!" Michelangelo exclaimed the large smile returning to his face easily. "See we're already connecting we'll be friends in no time."

"I… wait what? Friends?"

Michelangelo looked kind of embarrassed with himself. "Uh, yeah… I was thinking that maybe we could be friends… You know- if we kept it secret."

"Friends? Michelangelo do you-."

"Mikey."

Sakura stared up at him. "Huh?"

"Call me, Mikey. Michelangelo is kind of a mouthful." He shrugged.

For whatever reason Sakura would never understand it was in that moment that she decided to just go for it. Never in her life had she been rebellious quite like this, finally able to have a secret that was just hers. Something that Amane couldn't know. In that moment she decided to call this strange turtle child her friend.

"Okay then, Mikey, how do you suggest we do this?" Sakura questioned.

"Do what?" Mikey asked rather confused.

"The whole 'friend' thing… I have never had friends before I do not know what to do." Sakura explained.

"I don't have many friends either, really just my brothers, and April." Mikey replied. "But I think it goes something like this: Hello, I'm Michelangelo but call me, Mikey, and I like comics, video games, and pizza, nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand.

Sakura gave a small nod and took his hand after a moment. "Hello, Mikey, I am Sakura, and I like to paint… and draw."

"No way! I love to draw!" Mikey said excitedly. He sat down on an old box that was sitting on the roof, while Sakura settled herself into her chair.

So they sat there for the next hour, talking, and to Sakura's surprise, laughing. She hadn't laughed nearly since her grandfather died. And when Mikey left not too much later with the promise of returning, Sakura found that she couldn't help but be happy. She had finally made a friend. She had never had a friend before.

As Mikey jumped the rooftops to join his brothers on patrol he found that he was just as happy as Kura was. He had always had to share with his brothers growing up, and this was something he could keep just to himself for now. It may not have been his brightest idea, but Kura seemed just as earnest as he was at the idea of a friend…

* * *

A few weeks later Sakura was sitting on the roof with two cups of hot chocolate, slowly sipping out of hers as she waited. When she heard the now familiar padding of feet she asked without turning, "How was your day?"

"For me?" Mikey exclaimed when he saw the hot chocolate.

Sakura smirked slightly, "Yes, for you."

"Yessss!" Mikey grinned as he picked it up and settled into the second chair that Sakura had dragged to the roof. "And my day was good, Master Splinter and Leo finally let us go topside again after Raph got captured last week. You know anything about it?"

Sakura gulped down some hot chocolate before responding. "Yes, I heard about it. His name is Hun, he runs the Purple Dragons. I do not know him very well, but I would watch out for him, Mikey, he is bad news. Really bad news."

"Yeah, we figured when he sent some invisible ninjas after us. What's the deal with that anyway?" Mikey questioned.

"I do not know a lot about what the Foot do, but just know that they are even worse news than Hun. You do not want to get involved with that either, Mikey."

"How bad can the Foot be if you're a part of it?"

"Trust me, Mikey, I do not want to be a part of it. I never wanted to be a part of it." She said quietly staring into her mug.

Mikey looked at her expectantly waiting for her to elaborate. Sakura was something of a mystery despite their growing friendship.

Sakura caught her friend staring at her and quickly took a sip of her hot chocolate. "That is a story for another time. How angry was your brother when Hun captured him? Raph is the angry one right?" She asked changing the subject.

Mikey grinned, if Kura didn't want to talk about her past, then that was fine. She didn't have to tell him everything yet. That's how friend's worked right?

"Oh, yes he is, and you better believe he was pissed, nearly threw a barbell through Donnie's big computer."

Sakura smiled as Mikey continued to talk, waving his arms wildly as he usually did. One of these days she would tell Mikey her own story. As she looked at Mikey, she hoped that it would have a happy ending this time.

* * *

 _thanks for the dive into my mind. drop me a review! i don't bite... much :)_


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